Lawn mower



Oct. 17, 1939.

E. S. GEORGE El AL LAWN MOWER Filed Oct. 20, 1938 Snven-tor Patented oef. 17, 1939 y i A t 2,176,175

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LAWN MOWEB Edwin S. George, Bloomfield Hills, and Wesley A. Gibbons, Birmingham, Mich., assignors to The Moto-Mower Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application October 20, 1938, Serial No. 235,952

3 Claims. (Cl. 56-26) This invention relates, in general, to improverotation therewith a pulley or sprocket wheel 30. ments in lawn mowers and, in particular, to mow- Pulley or wheel 30 is operable for driving the cuters of the power driven type. tingV reel I8 by means of a belt or chain drive 32 One fault inherent inthe use of power driven which is in driven connection with a pulley or 6 mowers, which are usually employed in heavy sprocket wheel 30 and in driving connection with 5 duty mowing, is that the grass tracked down by a pulley or sprocket wheel 84 mounted on and for the ground-bearing members of the mower is left rotation with said reel at one side of the cutting uncut. Therefore, to correct for this, the main members thereon. object of the invention is to improve a power For driving the mower itself and the reel I8 l driven mower so that the grass tracked down by thereof, an internal combustion engine, generally 10 the ground-bearing members of the mower is as indicated at 36, is employed and is supported on uniformly cut by the cutting members of the the aft frame structure l2 between the wheels mower as is the lawn as a whole. 2l. By the employment of the usual clutches and More specically, an object of the invention is mechanical connections (not shown) theengine l! to provide a power driven lawn mower with pneu- 36 is operatively associated with the shafts 22 and 15 matic means whereby the grass tracked down by 28 for rotatably driving said shafts, preferably in-A the ground-bearing members of the mower is updividually and independently, so that rotation of raised to permit uniform cutting thereof by the shaft 22 will carry the mower on the wheels 24 cutting members of the mower. across the lawn to be cut, and rotation of shaft Other objects and advantages of the-invention 28 will rotatably drive the reel I8 through the belt 20 will become readily apparent from a reference to or chain drive 32 and the pulleys or sprocket the following specification taken in conjunction wheels 30 and 34. with the accompanying drawing in which: The exhaust gases or a portion thereof are di- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a power driven rected from the engine 36 by means of a properly 25 mower and showing details of the invention incorsupported, branched pipe or conduit 38, each of 26 porated therein; and the branches 40 and 42 of pipe 38 being laterally Fig. 2 is a. front elevation of the showing in outwardly and downwardly led so that the dove- Fig. 1- tailed outlets M and 46 thereof adjacently overlie I'he mower of Figs. 1 and 2, which may be of the the paths of crushed or tracked-down grass made form shown in our co-pending application, Serial by the ground travel of the wheels or casters Il. 80 No. 213,380, filed June 6, 1938, and entitled Lawn Since the width of the outlets M andv I6 are at mowers, comprises fore and aft frame structures least as great as the width of said paths, and since Il and l2 of the usual construction and which are the gases emitted therefrom travel in a direction hinged, pivoted, or otherwise interconnected for counter to the pointing direction of the crushed the ordinarily desirable relative movement theregrass, said crushed grass in its entirety is re- 85 between. As is customary, the fore frame strucplaced in a substantially perpendicular position ture Il supports at or near its forward end a pair to permit the subsequent and uniform cutting 0f spaced, ground-engaging wheels or casters I4 thereof. 'Ihe fact that the outlets 4l and 46 are adapted fel' SWVelled movement relatively t0 said dovetailed not only renders high velocity to the o structure and at 0r near its rearward end a emitted gases but it munies them as wen. Natu- 4o ground-engaging roller l5. AS iS alSO Custemary, rally only those tracks caused by the wheels or a cutting reel I3 iS rotatably carried by the frame casters Il are considered since the latter are the structures Il and I2 at the interconnection thereonly ground-engaging members on the ordinary of, said reel being supported ahead of and in close mower which both lead and laterally overlie the DlOximIy t0 the usuel Cutting ber 20 Carried by cutting reel, but similar provision is contemplated 45' the frame structure Il ahead of the roller I6, said for other laterally overlying ground-engaging reel e180 being disposed behind the Wheels 0r members of the mower whether same lead or folcasters I l and therebetween. low said reel.

The aft frame structure I2 of the mower is Although the invention hasbeendescrlbed with shown, as usual, supporting a. shaft 22 on which some detail it is not intended that such descrip- 50 is mounted intermediate its ends and for rotation tion is to be definitive of the limits of the inventive therewith a pair of spaced, ground-engaging id ea. The iight is reserved to make such changes -wheels 24. A boss 26 is provided on -one side of 'in the details of construction and arrangement of the frame structure I2 and forms a bearing for parts as will come, within the purview of the atone end of a shaft 28 on which is mounted for tached claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a lawn mower having an engine for motivating same over the lawn to be cut and an exhaust, an elongated cutting reel rotatably driven by the engine, a pair of ground engaging members supporting said reel in cutting engagement with the lawn and spaced from each other in outwardly oiIset relationship to the ends of said reel,

a pair of conduits in communication with the ex- 10 haust from the engine, and an outlet on each of said conduits for the exhaust therein, said outlets being arranged behindV said members and spaced from each other similarly as said members with said reel between said outlets.

2. In a lawn mower having an engine for motivating same over the lawn to be cut and an exhaust, an elongated cutting reel rotatably driven by the engine for cutting a predetermined width of lawn1 a pair of ground engaging members supporting said reel in cutting engagement with the lawn and laterally outwardly spaced from the opposite edges oi said width, a pair of conduits in communication with the exhaust from the engine, and an outlet on each of said conduits for the exhaust therein, said outlets being arranged behind said members and spaced from each other similarly as said members with said reel between said outlets.

3. Inalawn mower having an engine for motivating same over the lawn to be cut and an exhaust, an elongated cutting reel of predetermined length and rotatably driven by the engine for cutting a strip of lawn of a width equal to said length, a pair of ground engaging members supporting said reel in cutting engagement with the lawn and spaced from each other a distance greater than said length, said members being arranged marginally outwardly of the strip and on opposite sides thereof, apair of conduits in communication with the exhaust from the engine, and an outlet on each oi.' said conduits for the exhaust therein, said outlets being spaced from each other similarly as said members and arranged directly above the tracks made by said members in the lawn offset from the strip.`

EDWIN S. GEORGE. Wm A. GIBBONS. 

